About two weeks ago, “a friend of mine” from 202 chanced upon ESPN’s Zach Lowe at a bar outside his Harlem apartment. Inevitably, “my friend” ruined the mood by bringing up the Washington Wizards, forcing Lowe to collapse. To say it was a mood killer is an understatement. I won’t confirm or deny that I’m the anonymous Stan of Wizards, but that’s beside the point.
But if that’s what the mere mention of the Washington Wizards can do to a basketball junkie, imagine how damaging it can be to the psyche of an entire generation of city residents. It’s enough to shatter even the most stable psyche. This offseason, the Wizards jettisoned the last vestiges of Ernie Grunfeld’s executive tree by firing his former assistant, Tommy Sheppard.
The Wizards are hitting rock bottom. Washington is bad this season. They are playing at a breakneck pace with the most immature lineup since the locker room showdown of Javaris Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas. Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma shoot at will, putting dents in the rim and playing sloppier defense. With one eye on Washington’s horrible roster, the eyes of one of the league’s most desperate franchises are focused on the lower echelons of basketball.
Unfortunately, Washington has the wrong project. Unlike the 2023 edition, the 2024 NBA Draft is devoid of generational talent at the top. Shepherd could have traded Beal before the 2022 trade deadline, but opted to invest a long-term contract in Beal, then waited until he and Kristaps Porzingis helped them win just enough games to find themselves in the middle missed the play-in. AND avoided putting himself in position to win the draft lottery. A week after the draft, his successor traded Beal to Phoenix for assets they gave to Poole.
Three developments this week cast an even longer shadow over the Wizards than that of Victor Wembanyama. One was the aforementioned Wembnayama scoring 38 in Phoenix, the other was Washington getting run off the field by the Philadelphia 76ers. The 146-128 loss dropped the Wizards to 1-5, with their only loss coming against the winless Memphis Grizzlies.
The last thing was ESPN’s chief analyst,Jonathan Govony abandons his top 25 of 2024 prospects. Any of the top 10 prospects could become the best player in the class. However, that’s the last thing you want to hear if you’re a franchise with a cataclysmic draft history over the past decade.
Here’s a sampling of the clunkers Washington has drafted over the past decade:
Despite multiple lottery selections, Washington’s top picks during this span include Tomáš Satoranský, Otto Porter, Kelly Oubre, Troy Brown Jr., Rui Hachimura, Deni Avidija, Corey Kispert, Johnny Davis and Bilal Coulibaly. Apart from Coulibaly, who is only six matches into his professional career, the previous regime’s record jumps like damaged vinyl. Shepherd’s latest lottery pick, Johnny Davis, looks like a two-way contract bench warmer. The specter of recruiting a stinker a year after withdrawing from the competition for the best bilateral perspective in 40 years is very real.
The beauty of preseason rankings is that they have the potential to change. Before the 2018-19 college basketball season, no one could have seen Ja Morant coming. Washington needs a similar recruiter who can stand out from the pack.
Givony’s top prospect, Ron Holland, isn’t even playing college basketball this season. Instead, he will compete in G League Ignite alongside Matas Buzelis. And like we learn from Scott Henderson’s difficult beginnings, assessing the NBA’s readiness versus G League competition is a risky business. USC point guard Isaiah Collier might be the first point guard taken, but he doesn’t even have the best name recognition of everyone on their roster. That would be Bronny James, who stands out more for his father’s contributions to basketball than his own game.
Kentucky should feature one of its most entertaining individual rosters in a decade. Forward Justin Edwards, center Aaron Bradshaw, DJ Wagner and Rob Dillingham are all top 25 players in Blue. Edwards profiles as the top prospect, but he turns 20 in December and could also end up hitting his ceiling as a second-in-command to RJ Barrett.
Purdue’s Zach Edey is the MVP, but he’ll also be a 7-4, 22-year-old next year who projects as a second-round pick. The Player of the Year shortlist includes a host of John Does, while FAMU is more like Ted Lasso, a college basketball inspiration a spin-off rather than an incubator of high-level individual talent. Alex Sarr might be the best big man in 2024, but he’s playing off-Broadway for Perth in the Australian NBL. I
It would be a shame to spend a year watching Poole lob alley-oops off the backboard in transition during double-digit losses only for the wizards to sniff again. This franchise and its fans have been through enough trauma.
Follow DJ Dunson on X: @brain sport